“You scheming bastard! This young lord will cripple you today to show you what true strength is!” The young man approached Zhao Chen hastily, wasting no words with his insults.
“Do you have to speak like that? I don’t have time for you side villains, come fight and let's get this over with.” Zhao Chen had heard the same line from these ‘young lords’, and he was starting to grow tired of the repetitiveness. In addition the youth was only at the fifth minor stage of Qi Gathering realm, and although the boy was younger than Zhao Chen, he wasn’t anything special.
“You stupid countryside bumpkin! I'm Hang Chen! The youngest lord of the Chen family! Come to kowtow and admit your mistakes and I’ll let you off.” Hang Chen flew off the handle immediately, stomping his feet like a child throwing a tantrum.
“Sorry I think I heard a dog barking for attention somewhere. What did you say?” Zhao Chen paid the youth in front of him no mind, these young lords were all the same. Silk Pants who rely only on their titles and statuses to get what they want in life. Zhao Chen hated those with fake strength the most.
“You! You! Do you plan on making an enemy out of the Chen family today!” Hang Chen desperately wanted to throw out a fist, but then he would have to eat his earlier words of calling Zhao Chen a schemer.
“Is your status high enough? Stop whining like a little girl and come fight, I want to see just how powerful you young lords are.” Zhao Chen flashed an evil smile. “And maybe show the world that you guys don't amount to much. Yes, I’ll destroy your statuses one by one.” Zhao Chen started to speak to himself but everyone around him had heard his words.
Some chuckled at his insults to Hang Chen, some laughed at his plans on fighting the 6 great families, but the majority were in awe. Would this guy really die if he stopped talking?
“Good! Then come receive a move from this young lord, don’t say you weren’t warned! Great Sky Scorning Dawn!” Hang Chen waved his hands in a flurry, weaving them into distinct positions before firing out a ball of flames the size of 2 men!
Zhao Chen hurriedly sent out a palm at full force and side stepped the ball of flame. Though he admitted that the boy in front of him was not without qualifications, he was definitely not a worthy opponent yet.
The materialized palm met with the ball of flames, and both quickly dissipated into nothingness, the aftermath of which sent out a small shockwave, knocking those in the crowd several steps back.
“You damned country bumpkin! Just take this beating lying down, and maybe this young master will let you live!” Hang Chen was nearly crying tears of rage, he’d never been so humiliated, and especially not by someone with no background!
“The same speech every time, seriously do you people not get tired! Just shut up and fight you idiot!” Zhao Chen's mood was also slowly deteriorating. The youth in front of him only knew how to speak big words, but his ability to back them up was none.
“This young lord will send out one final move, if you can block it, I'll concede! Do you agree!” Hang Chen abruptly yelled out. Though he was infuriated he didn’t want to become the laughing stock of the Chen family. With this proposition he could start the rumor that he let Zhao Chen win!
“Pfft! Haha, good good! Couldn’t win so you want to convince everyone you weren’t trying is it? Now you’ve really made this seat infuriated !” Zhao Chen's tone and aura changed, Hang Chen felt like he was no longer standing on the other side of a youth of his generation, but rather an old monster!
“Wait! Wait! Stop! Don’t even think about coming closer! The Chen family will never let you off! I’m warning you!” Hang Chen's tears started to flow, but the fuel had changed. His face quickly grew wet, as did his robes!
“You disgusting animal. Only know how to bully the weak, let me show you what it’s like to be weak!” Zhao Chen exuded with a murderous intent as he raised his fist.
“Spirit Serpent Divine Fist!”
Phwark! Urghh!
Hang Chen fell to his knees like a piece of paper that had just been folded into thirds. He grabbed tightly onto his lower abdomen, as if he had just lost something precious. He slowly raised his bloodshot eyes to meet Zhao Chens, and spoke weakly.
“Y-y-ou monster! You destroy my dantian! I’m nothing more than a cripple!”
Huh!?
The entire crowd that was previously watching the so called fight, cheering on Hang Chen now all looked at Zhao Chen like as if it was the demon lord who had descended in his place. How could it be so cruel? A minor disagreement and crippled him just like that?
No. Wait! That was the Chen family's youngest lord! Zhao Chen had crippled a rising star of one of the six great families!
The already shocked crowd turned into silent and fearful mice. They were all proud and strong cultivators in their own eyes, but to one of the great six families, they were mere ants? What if they were killed for not stepping in to help Hang Chen?
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Everyone quickly turned their heads to look at Zhao Chen with calculating looks. If you kill the cat, the mouse gets to live!
But for some odd reason, Zhao Chen didn’t run away. In fact he had sat down cross legged and began to meditate. No way! Was this guy crazy?
Everyone was looking at him with murderous intent, but not only did he try to fight back, he had the arrogance to sit down and breakthrough! Now was the perfect moment to strike!
“Halt!”
Just as the crowd were about to pounce on Zhao Chen, a loud and domineering voice came from afar. It was the old man!
“You all are shameless! Want to gang up on one person, and while he is breaking through no less! If anyone dares to move before that boy breakthroughs, I’ll cut their head personally and send it back to their family!” The old man's voice was loud but it carried no real anger.
And yet, not a single person dared to even breathe too loud.
The sudden outburst from the old man had stopped every movement on the battlefield, everyone turned their heads to get a peek at the commotion. As everyone observed the scene, they saw a youth currently breaking through, and another youth passed out on the ground, with his hands clutching his lower abdomen.
Everyone instantly recognized the passed out youth as Hang Chen! Everyone looked at Zhao Chen with either fear or respect, he had truly done something inconceivable.
However, 5 people in the crowd paid close attention to the scene. Each one with an odd grin on their faces. They seemed to be happy about Hang Chen's misfortune.
“Serves him right”
“Stupid bastard”
“What an idiot”
“Thought himself a lion, now he’s just an ant!”
4 out of the 5 youths thought up a quick insult in their minds, before turning to walk back towards their unassigned battlefields. One of them however, a short girl stayed behind, but not to watch Hang Chen, but rather to observe Zhao Chen.
She watched him with a strange gleam in her eye. She muttered something under her breath as her mouth curled up into a smile. She gave one last glance to Zhao Chen before turning around with a giggle and walking away.
‘I’m a bit disappointed it took that idiot for me to break through, but the extra strength will be a great help!’
Zhao Chen paid no attention to his surroundings, so he naturally had no idea what was going on around him. As soon as he dealt the finishing blow to Hang Chen he felt the bottleneck of the middle stage Qi Gather Realm loosen enough for him to break through, and that was not an opportunity he would miss. Surely the other examinees wouldn’t attempt to attack him while he had his guard down.
In reality, though he was disappointed by how he reached these results, Zhao Chen was grateful that his plan worked. In his previous life his cultivation took him much longer not because he was untalented, but because he had no urgency, he took his time in comprehending his Dao.
But in this life, he did not have the time to live leisurely. He needed to regain his strength as quickly as possible! And after his fight with Yuan Ling, Zhao Chen knew exactly how he would do it. Fighting!
By going through constant battles, using his technique and comprehending them further, he would be able to understand his Dao much better, allowing for his cultivation to be much faster than average. Naturally this method was not some form of cheat code.
Zhao Chen only trusted in this method because he knew his comprehension ability was powerful. If this was an average person, then this method would not work at all. If you did not already pledge yourself to your Dao, fighting constantly would mean nothing but allowing you to move an inch, maybe two further.
But for Zhao Chen who had already lived an almost full life, who had realised his Dao centuries ago, all he needed to do was remember his path, remember his strength. And by doing so his cultivation speed would put others to shame.
Swoosh! Whoosh!
All of the Qi in the surrounding area started to circulate and form into a small cloud above Zhao Chen's head. The cloud grew larger and larger, until eventually a large grey cloud had covered the entire space!
“Hey, what's going on?”
“I think I feel my cultivation breakthrough!”
“Where’s all this qi coming from!”
The cloud of Qi that Zhao Chen had brought over the space had caused several people to also feel their bottlenecks loosen, this guy was their lucky chance!
But of course the heavens were not so generous!
The Qi that was previously surging through everyone's bodies left just as quickly as it appeared, all being drawn to one point, as if it was being called.
“No, no, no! I was finally going to break through to the ninth minor stage! You stupid country bumpkin! This Wu will kill you today!” A youth roared loudly and rushed over towards Zhao Chen, emitting a thick bloodlust.
“Little Wu, do you think your family is so great that you can defy this old man's orders?” A quiet voice whispered directly into the youths ears, immediately stopping him in his tracks.
The youth thought back to his families warning that they would offer no help to him in the academy, it was up to him to prove himself worthy.
The youth stopped his advancements and turned back. He stopped in his tracks at that moment, but he etched this debt down in his head, he would not rest until Zhao Chen paid for this.
Back where Zhao Chen was breaking through
The carefree and currently aloof Zhao Chen was absorbing Qi frenziedly. How was he supposed to know breaking through would cause him to make so many enemies unknowingly?
Actually, even if the current Zhao Chen knew, he wouldn’t care. With this frenzy of Qi, he might be able to break through to the sixth stage in one fell swoop!
This space was truly a lucky chance for him.
As Zhao Chen was absorbing Qi he felt the breakthrough begin.
“AHHHH!”
The breakthrough was just as painful as the last, but Zhao Chen had no complaints. He focused his mind and he felt his realm growing quickly.
Fourth Stage Qi Gathering Realm!
But it didn’t stop right there!
Peak Fourth Stage!
And finally he broke through again.
Fifth Stage Qi Gathering Realm!
‘Now for the sixth stage!’
Zhao Chen had managed to break through four minor realms in the span of a week! His cultivation speed was truly too monstrous! But the shock and elation didn’t come only from Zhao Chen himself.
Everyone in the entire space had stopped moving. The youth in front of them was a monster! Two minor stages in one go, and it didn’t seem like he was stopping yet! This inconceivable talent started to raise questions amongst the crowd.
“Does this guy really not have a large background? There’s no way some normal bumpkin would be this monstrous right?”
“Yeah you’re right! He’s definitely some bigshot powerhouses disciple!”
The conversation from two youths sparked a wave of questioning which only after a dozen minutes resulted in every examinee agreeing on the fact that Zhao Chen was no minor character.
“Hehe, good! I knew this boy wouldn’t disappoint! I guess it’s time to speed up our plans.” The old man observed the scene from far away in the watchtower, mumbling and laughing to himself. However he no longer had the air of caring and soft old man, but an old scheming villain!
After another minute, the power surging into Zhao Chen's body stopped abruptly. The clouds slowly dissipated, but Zhao Chen stayed sitting, seeming as though he was in great thought.
No one dared to move, everybody's heart was beating fast. Just what realm did he reach?
Fortunately their questions were answered by a loud roar as Zhao Chen stood up.
“NO! CURSE YOU HEAVENLY DAO!” Zhao Chen was shouting and cursing with his finger pointed up to the sky. No one knew what could have possibly made him so angry.
Zhao Chen had reached a level of rage he hadn’t felt in years. He was only a step away from accomplishing a feat he hadn’t accomplished ever in his previous life, he was about to break through three minor stages! Even though cultivation was easier the lower your realm, this was still a grand feat!
However, Zhao Chen fell just short of the mark. He had put a foot into the threshold of the sixth minor stage, but at a critical moment, the qi had stopped pouring into him, and he fell just short of his goal! The heavens had denied Zhao Chen a great accomplishment, and for this he would have a score in his heart.
“Hey bumpkin, don’t think just because your talent is good you can just do whatever you want! Before challenging the hea-” A tall youth in dark red robes stepped up to mock Zhao Chen, but was quickly interrupted.
Phwark!
Zhao Chen wasted no time in rushing the boy, sending a full power punch into his face. The boy puked out a puddle of blood after being sent flying backwards.
“I was about to be annoyed for a long time because I wouldn’t be able to vent my frustration, but look at this! I forgot about this little test! Today I’ll appease my anger with the blood of everyone here!”
Zhao Chen roared once more and started a battle that covered every inch of the space in blood!